AND THE DINNER IS..

Nation chooses its favourite family meal.. and the result hasn’t changed much in 50 years

FOOD fads come and go but some old favourites – including fish fingers and roast dinners – have stood the test of time.

A study of the UK’s favourite family meals since the 60s found we still crave many of the same foods that the nation has been enjoying for decades.

Fish and chips, shepherd’s pie, a jacket potato and beans on toast are other choices that remain popular.

Modern parents reckon a third of the meals they feed their kids are the same or similar to the ones their parents gave them when they were young.

Food historian Monica Askay, a spokeswoman for cooking appliance brand Belling who commissioned the study, said: “Our food choices are influenced by so many things, including social factors, the availability of ingredients, foreign travel, immigration, celebrity chefs, advances in technology, changing health advice and food scares.

“Food of the 60s was still much influenced by the 14-year period of rationing during and following World War II. The preferred style of eating was ‘meat and two veg’, traditional British dishes.

“Over the decades, our tastes have become much more cosmopolitan, and we have also reduced our meat consumption.

“But the research shows that despite the large range of dishes and available ingredients, we do tend to stick to a fairly small number of favourite dishes, and that many of these have remained preferred throughout the decades.”

Spaghetti Bolognese and pizza, the top two choices in 2018, have both enjoyed a big rise up the charts after only cracking the top 10 in the 80s.

Monica puts the rise in popularity of Italian dishes down to a number of factors. She said: “Over the years, there has been migration to the UK from Italy and this led to many influences on our food.

“This, alongside rising numbers of British people holidaying abroad – and dietary advice stating a third of your meal should be carbohydrate, and citing pasta as a great source of this – added to its popularity.

“In later years, the increased availability of pasta in shops and supermarkets, rise of Italian ready meals and popularity of celebrity chefs who are passionate about the cuisine have helped cement Italian meals as some of the nation’s favourites.”

Three-quarters of parents believe it is important for their family to eat dinner together and three in 10 think their kids prefer classic meals over trendier cuisine.